Photo Credit : OAA
Architectural Credit : n/a

In 1906 George Wallace Gouinlock was appointed as the official architect of the Industrial Exhibition of Toronto (which in 1912 would be renamed the Canadian National Exhibition). Following a Beaux-Arts Baroque style, Gouinlock designed 15 new structures for Exhibition Place of which only five still survive: the Press Building (1905, formerly known as the Administrative Building); Horticulture Building (1907, now Muzik Club); Music Building (1907, formerly known as the Railways Building, the Hydro Building, and the Career Building); Government Building (1912, formerly known as the Arts, Crafts and Hobbies Building and now Medieval Times); and the Fire Hall/ Police Station (1912). Influenced by the 1983 World’s Columbian Exposition of Chicago, Gouinlock’s buildings formed the core of a campaign to transform the 19TH-century municipal fair into a nationally recognized exhibition of industrial, manufacturing and agricultural development. Today, the five remaining buildings make up the Gouinlock Buildings / Early Exhibition Buildings National Historic Site, recognizing their historical value as the largest and finest group of early 20th century exhibition buildings in the country. It was also during this time that Gouinlock would play a significant role leading the profession, first as Chair of the Toronto Society of Architects in 1895 and soon after as President of the Ontario Association of Architects in 1909.